Developing a protocol for the use of telenursing in community health in Australia.
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Date
2002-09-09
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Abstract
As the first step in developing a protocol for the use of video phones in community health we carried out a feasibility study among clients with a range of health needs Clients were equipped with a commercially available video phone connected using the client s home telephone line A hands free speaker phone and a miniature video camera for close up views were connected to the video phone Ten clients participated five required wound care two palliative care two long term therapy monitoring and one was a rural client All but two were aged 75 years or more Each client had a video phone for an average of two to three weeks During the six months of the study 43 client calls were made of which 36 84 were converted to video calls The speaker phone was used on 24 occasions 56 and the close up camera on 23 occasions 53 Both clients and nurses rated the equipment as satisfactory or better in questionnaires None of the nurses felt that the equipment was difficult to use including unpacking it and setting it up only one client found it difficult Taking into account the clients responses including their free text comments a judgement was made as to whether the video phone had been useful to their nursing care In seven cases it was felt to be unhelpful and in three cases it was judged helpful Although the study sample was small the results suggest that home telenursing is likely to be useful for rural clients in Australia unsurprisingly because of the distances involved